Strikeforce ‘Rockhold vs. Jardine’ Results and Play-by-Play

Jan 7, 2012

Sherdog.com will report from the The Joint inside the Hard Rock
Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas at 8 p.m. ET with live results and
play-by-play of Strikeforce's
“Rockhold vs. Jardine”, which is headlined by a middleweight
title bout between champion Luke
Rockhold and challenger Keith
Jardine.

Round 1
Martinez gets inside with a combination early and follows up with a
knee to the body. Payan returns fire with an uppercut and a hook
which cause Martinez to back out, then come back in with leg kicks.
Payan is starting to find his range with jabs and counter-punches
now while Martinez tries a switch kick to the ribs. Martinez shoots
low for a single-leg, switches to an ankle pick and Payan hops
away. Payan goes with a thudding leg kick now and puts together a
combo, the final sweeping left of which stumbles Martinez. Shucking
a tie-up from Martinez, Payan throws his man against the cage and
unloads with punches to the body and head. Payan is staying out of
range of the increasingly tentative Martinez, picking his jabs when
he steps in. He denies another takedown try from Martinez and tags
him with left as they separate. The jabs keep coming to the
stationary Martinez, who windmills punches in return.

Round 2
Payan comes aggressive with punches to begin the second. After a
few seconds of flurrying, he’s back to waiting for Martinez,
socking the veteran with jabs and right straights. Martinez’s
mouthpiece goes flying and he’s allowed to collect it. Payan wants
to knock it out again, attacking with more jabs and rights before
denying another double-leg. It’s more of the same through the
middle of the round, Payan stepping off and scoring with jabs,
before he rushes in to tie up with 90 seconds to go. Martinez
shoots forward and Payan sprawls out, and they’re back to throwing.
Martinez keeps leaning in with his punches and getting drilled with
big uppercuts.

Round 3
Clearly down two rounds to none, Martinez comes out throwing
punches and kicks with bad intentions, but Payan continues to have
his number where the counters are concerned. Payan is mixing it up
to the head and body with his combos now, a pair of particularly
nasty lefts snapping back Martinez’s head. Martinez’s double-legs
aren’t even coming close now as Payan simply shoves his man to the
ground on one attempt, then goes back to battering on the feet.
Blood is seeping from Martinez’s nose, his eyes swelling up while
the punches pile on. Martinez shoots for a final, desperate
double-leg and finishes the fight digging for a takedown the center
of the cage, taking punches to the face.

Round 1
Spang bounces around the outside while Legere takes the center,
both in the orthodox stance. Legere gets inside and drives Spang to
the ground, where the Swede immediately closes up his guard. Spang
looks to swivel his hips for an armbar, gets blocked and closes
guard again. Legere keeps Spang down even as he tries to post and
stand, and now Spang’s crammed against the cage, pulling for rubber
guard. Now back to closed guard goes Spang while Legere throws a
few right hands to the bottom man’s ribs. Legere stands and passes
to cross-side position on Spang’s left, but Spang regains
half-guard when Legere tries to take mount and soon pushes him back
to full guard. Spang loops his arm around Legere’s head to control
the posture, but Legere gets a couple thudding left hands off
anyway. With 45 seconds left, Spang shoves Legere off and pops to
his feet, then grazes with a left high kick. Legere quickly
clinches up again, then drops for a single-leg. Spang snares him in
a guillotine on the way down, but there are only seconds left on
the clock. Legere lifts his hand as if to tap, but he’s saved by
the horn.

Round 2
Legere drives in for another takedown and is met by a jumping knee,
which he powers through to put “The Kiss” on his back. Spang wants
to lock Legere down from guard but can’t keep him fully subdued,
allowing Legere enough space to get off sporadic shots and keep the
fight on the floor. Legere drops a hard, short elbow as Spang tries
to adjust his guard. Now Spang gets active, swinging his legs up
for a submission and forcing Legere to slow his roll. With two
minutes to go, referee Chris Tognoni issues a stand-up order. Spang
immediately takes advantage, putting a pair of combos on Legere’s
chin, but he whiffs on a spinning backfist and nearly gets taken
down again. Spang keeps up this time, but not for long, as Legere
powers him into the fence and then slams him down. Legere is back
in deep half-guard, his head and neck being controlled by Spang’s
arms on the right side when the round ends.

Round 3
Spang throws a few punches off Legere’s gloves and denies a
takedown attempt. He steps in with a knee to the body and crosses
with a right hand. An overhand right lands and Legere shoves Spang
away. Two hooks to the body cause Legere to go for another
takedown, and he gets it this time with 3:20 left in the bout.
Spang looks the fresher man from the bottom, but again he’s just
wrapping up, trying to neutralize and possibly get a stand-up. With
2:15 to go, he gets the restart from ref Tognoni. Legere goes right
back to looking for a takedown and, failing that, shoves Spang into
the cage. Ninety seconds to go and Legere lifts Spang into the air
for another slam. Spang pushes him off after 20 seconds and throws
to the body, then latches onto the back of Legere on a failed shot.
It’s a last-second rear-naked choke attempt, but Spang can’t get
the arm under Legere’s chin. Legere twists and shakes off Spang,
winding up in side control and hopping into mount to finish the
final seconds.

Round 1
Villante instantly catches Smith kicking low and stuffs him to the
ground. Smith pops back up, eating a knee from Villante on his way.
Villante catches a kick and drills Smith with a straight shot
before shoving him to the floor. Smith is dazed but clinging on to
Villante’s leg as the former football player drops hammerfists,
some illegally on the back of Smith’s head. Referee Kim Winslow
doesn’t like what she sees and steps in to wave the fight off, even
though Smith doesn’t realize and tries to grapple with Villante as
he steps away. The TKO stoppage comes at 1:05 of the opening
round.

Round 1
One of Terry’s first strikes, an inside thigh kick, grazes Burrell
low, but Nah-Shon waves it off. A nice left hand comes through for
Burrell and Terry answers with a flush overhand right. Terry ducks
a punch and clings to Burrell’s left leg, then wraps up the right
to bring his man to the canvas. Terry scoots Burrell around with
ease, passing Burrell’s wide open guard to half-guard on the left.
Burrell digs an underhook and gets to his knees, slipping a loose
guillotine attempt. Terry drags Burrell back to the ground quickly
and hops into full mount, but the natural 170-pounder Burrell
simply sits up to escape. Terry keeps Burrell on his knees and
whips around to his kneeling opponent’s back. Burrell sits down to
deny the hooks and stands back up, putting his back to the fence to
slide Terry off. Terry stays on the legs and pulls Burrell back
down with 35 seconds to go. They stall out and stand up, Terry
landing a Superman punch and Burrell a glancing uppercut before the
horn.

Round 2
Terry tries to walk inside with punches and gets countered with a
stiff left. Clipping Burrell with a right hand, Terry gets inside
and puts his man on the cage before once more dumping him to the
ground. Burrell tries to turn and stand, allowing Terry to slip
onto his back, but again Terry can’t get the hooks. They’re
vertical again and Terry is showing the quicker hands, zapping
Burrell with one-twos when he steps inside on the larger man.
Burrell catches Terry with a counter right and Terry is looking to
clinch soon after. A few more Burrell rights find their marks as
they resume throwing with just over a minute to go. Terry wants
another takedown and gets a single-leg on the fence, where they
stay until the final seconds.

Round 3
Burrell is walking straight ahead, going headhunting with power
punches. Many are slipping off the gloves and forearms of the
backpedaling Terry, but enough are getting through that Burrell
keeps coming. Knees, lead uppercuts and jabs are accumulating until
90 seconds in, when Terry stops moving backward and starts whipping
out his own jab. A lead uppercut from Burrell seems to stun Terry
and Burrell tries to capitalize with a combo and a leaping knee, to
no avail. Terry is measuring up shots now, throwing single punches
to keep active but not landing much. Burrell has a left head kick
blocked and Terry jogs out to his right. Burrell looks spent but
his single shots are coming through, sweeping right hooks and big
uppercuts. Terry drives on a single-leg with 30 seconds left but
quickly abandons it in favor of clinching. Burrell pulls guard on
the fence with a last-second guillotine attempt, but it’s not
there.

Official result: Judge Junichiro Kamijo scores the bout
29-28 for Terry, while Glenn Trowbridge has it 29-28 for Burrell.
The third and deciding judge, Marcos Rosales, scores it 29-28 for
the winner by split decision, Nah-Shon Burrell.

Round 1
Saffiedine lands a leg kick but gets grazed by straight punches
from Stinson, who’s coming forward as the “Sponge” circles in the
southpaw stance. A swiping right tags Stinson, then a hard inside
kick to the knee and a blocked high kick. Saffiedine sticks a right
hand in Stinson’s face and whips a kick to the upper body.
Saffiedine is showing good movement and crisp combinations, mixing
it up occasionally with hard low kicks. Another right hook-right
round kick combo connects for Saffiedine. Stinson gets socked with
another right and gets bullied into the cage. Stinson knocks
Saffiedine off balance with an elbow as they disengage and the Team
Quest fighter stumbles across the cage. They clinch again and
Saffiedine wrestles him down. Stinson clasps on to Saffiedine’s arm
and rolls through for an armbar, but Saffiedine defends well and
gets to his feet. Saffiedine’s bleeding, cut on the outside corner
of his right eye. Stinson is finding his mark with left hands to
his opponent’s blindside, stepping in with knees and finishing out
the round with a final overhand left.

Round 2
Saffiedine is patched up but his damaged eye is already sporting
black as the second round opens up. Stinson comes forward with
renewed confidence now, racking up more left hands and going low
with slapping kicks. A right high kick catches Saffiedine against
the fence and he sprints away. Stinson traps him against the fence
again and wings five or six hard shots before Saffiedine can circle
away. A solid one-two straight combo gets through for Saffiedine
and he drives in shortly thereafter to plow Stinson to the base of
the fence. Saffiedine drops some elbows and punches to the ribs
through Stinson’s closed guard. Stinson’s right knee is banged up
and bruised from Saffiedine’s early low kicks, but he’s doing well
to limit damage with 80 seconds left. Saffiedine drops some hard
elbows and someone’s cut wide open. It’s Stinson with a gash below
his right eye, and he finishes the round defending off his
back.

Round 3
Stinson catches an inside thigh kick on the cup just 10 seconds
into the final frame and action is halted for two minutes or so.
When they resume, Saffiedine goes right back to the kicks,
attacking Stinson’s damaged right leg before blasting through him
with a takedown. Stinson swings up his legs for an armbar, but
Saffiedine snuffs it out and goes back to working from his
opponent’s closed guard. Stinson is trying to escape as he absorbs
grinding ground-and-pound, he just can’t get out from under
Saffiedine’s heavy top control. It’s all Saffiedine on the mat,
dropping body shots and elbows to Stinson’s re-bloodied face. With
90 seconds to go, Saffiedine stands and dives back into Stinson’s
guard, but they’re soon restarted by ref Steve Mazzagatti.
Saffiedine is gushing blood from his left eye, circling to stay out
of trouble as an aggressive Stinson comes forward. He’s slipping
most of the bigger man’s punches and Saffiedine gets the final word
with a straight one-two combo just before the horn.

Official result: Judge Lester Griffin scores the bout 29-28
for Stinson, while Adalaide Byrd has it 30-27 in favor of
Saffiedine. The third and deciding judge, Patricia Morse-Jarman,
scores the bout 29-28 for the winner by split decision Tarec
Saffiedine.

Round 1
Mein immediately pushes out from the center, moving Woodley toward
the cage, but Woodley backs him off with a kick to the body.
Woodley finds himself back there and circles out, though Mein
sticks right with him, threatening with rangy strikes but not
throwing much. Woodley looks for a single-leg and runs Mein across
the cage, into a post. Mein widens his base and turns onto
Woodley’s exposed arm to stay up. Woodley is still digging for the
takedown when referee Chris Tognoni breaks them up. Mein comes over
the top with a left and Woodley slips underneath , dipping away.
Woodley gets a hold of Mein again and drags him down this time.
Arm-triangle attempt from Woodley yields nothing, so he flattens
Mein out, leaning across from left to right in half-guard. Mein
nearly explodes out, but Woodley puts him back down. Not much
offense from Woodley as he pushes Mein around the perimeter with 60
seconds left. An elbow drops on Mein and Woodley is looking for the
arm-triangle again. Mein is hip to it this time and sweeps out,
standing with 30 seconds left. It ends there without much offense
of note.

Round 2
Mein pumps his jab and walks down Woodley again, but it’s Woodley
who cracks the Canadian with a right hand over the top. The
wrestler gets inside and drags Mein down again, landing in
half-guard on Mein’s left with the other side to the fence. The
action slows again as Woodley pushes Mein around the edge,
occasionally dropping one or two punches. Mein is getting off some
good elbows from his back and using butterfly guard to create
distance. Woodley is just lying on top and Mein pushes off the cage
to swing his legs up for an armbar. Woodley denies it and goes back
to lying flat, all the while taking palm strikes and elbows to the
temple. Mein goes for another armbar before the horn and Woodley
stands to escape it.

Round 3
Woodley gets inside as soon as Mein throws a combo and they’re back
to the familiar position: Woodley in Mein’s open guard, scooting
him around while Mein strikes from the bottom. Woodley frames up an
arm-triangle and gives it up quickly. Mein’s elbows don’t have much
behind them now, and he’s got a narrow angle to throw them with
Woodley’s face buried in his chest. Two minutes left in the final
round and ref Tognoni implores the fighters to get busy as boos
cascade down. Mein turns to attack the left arm of Woodley and
Tognoni wants them back up. Mein sprawls on a shot with 60 seconds
to go, but Woodley clinches him into the fence as they stand. Mein
reverses and throws some tired punches to the body, answered by
knees from Woodley. Mein tries a trip, can’t keep Woodley down and
they trade knees inside before the end.

Round 1
Lawal quickly gets inside and whips Larkin down with a single-leg.
Larkin’s left side is pinned against the fence with Lawal
disrupting his guard, trying to find space to inflict damage, but
not finding much. Two minutes in, “King Mo” is landing some solid
right hands and elbows on Larkin, who’s turned on his side. Larkin
is trying to control Lawal’s wrists but has no escape from the
pressure of the wrestler. Referee Kim Winslow issues a curious
stand-up order with just over a minute to go. Larkin whiffs on a
lead uppercut and Lawal jabs to the gut a few times. Larkin gets
the last shot with a jab that pushes back Lawal’s head.

Round 2
Lawal comes for another single-leg but Larkin stays up momentarily
this time, long enough to pop the King with a couple quick
uppercuts. Lawal gets his takedown though, and he’s finally able to
blast Larkin with some devastating ground-and-pound. Big right
hands blasts Larkin directly in the face, his neck pinned down by
Lawal’s left. Larkin’s lights flicker on and off before referee Kim
Winslow steps in for a late stoppage at 1:32 of the second
round.

Round 1
Amagov throws out a tentative low kick and Lawler blitzes him with
wide punches. Takedown goes for Amagov, but he can’t keep Lawler on
his back for more than 30 seconds. When Lawler gets up, though,
Amagov stays glued to the back of the “Ruthless” one and brings him
down again. With Lawler on his knees in a front headlock, Amagov
drills his opponent with an illegal knee to the head. The shot
grazes off Lawler’s left temple and Lawler gestures to referee
Steve Mazzagatti before leaning forward on the mat. Mazzagatti
deducts one point from Amagov for the foul and they resume. They’re
looking tentative until Lawler explodes with a flying knee, nearly
clearing Amagov’s head with the leap. Amagov falls face-first to
the mat, and takes a couple follow-up punches before Mazzagatti
waves it off. It’s a wild TKO stoppage for Robbie Lawler at 1:48 of
the first round.

Round 1
Referee Herb Dean is the third man in the cage for this 185-pound
title bout. Jardine darts across the cage and circles Rockhold,
throwing out range-finding jabs. The champion is sitting back to
counter until he leaps in with a kick to the body and mugs Jardine
with punches on the fence. Jardine turns it around, holding
Rockhold on the fence with an underhook, then the American
Kickboxing Academy fighter reverses again. Rockhold lands a few
knees to the body and an elbow as Jardine circles out. The “Dean of
Mean” dodges a high kick and grins, waving Rockhold on, and the
champ obliges with a turning kick to the gut. Rockhold’s landing
combinations now, causing Jardine to turn away toward the fence.
Jardine gets moving but Rockhold walks him down, throwing another
pair of turning kicks. Jardine puts a couple good kicks on
Rockhold’s right knee and Rockhold responds by dropping Jardine
with a close-quarters right hand behind the ear. Jardine hops back
up and they’re slinging leather with a minute to go. A big overhand
right lands on Jardine’s ear and the UFC vet wobbles backward.
Rockhold pounces and sends Jardine down with another right hand.
Jardine stumbles to his feet against the fence and is met by more
punches which drop him again instantly. Ref Dean hovers nearby,
giving the still-moving Jardine every chance to recover, but
Rockhold is all over him and this one’s a wrap. Luke Rockhold
retains his Strikeforce middleweight title with a decisive TKO
stoppage at 4:26 of the first round.